If it were up to students, Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett could very well be the next prime minister. A January 2015 survey of 2,583 students predicts 26 seats for his HaBayit HaYehudi party, and it's no wonder: HaBayit HaYehudi has been working for years with young people, and now it's paying off — those young people have grown up and now have the right to vote.

Those who were young in the early '90s, like myself, recall that participation in youth movement activities sponsored by political parties was a popular option, similar to a large extent to participation in apolitical youth movements like the Scouts, socialist Zionist HaShomer HaTzair or religious Zionist Bnei Akiva.

Meretz Youth led the trend and was considered a youth movement in every sense, with thousands of activists and dozens of branches across the country. Labor Youth and Likud Youth also saw lively participation. Somehow, this participation has been lost in the last two decades.

Some say the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 was the breaking point. The sense of total disappointment was mutual: The youth were disappointed in politics, and the politicians gave up on the youth. Meretz Youth dwindled, until, following the 2009 election, it stopped all activity. Labor Youth officially ceased to exist in 2007, and Likud Youth also ended activities over a decade ago.